‘Walk loud, walk proud’: thousands turn out for huge Pride parade

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This article was published 04/06/2023 (865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thousands wearing rainbow colours flocked to the Manitoba Legislative Building grounds and Memorial Park in downtown Winnipeg for this year’s LBGTTQ+ Pride parade, happy to celebrate despite the sweltering heat.

About 10,000 individuals and over 160 groups registered to walk in the parade, while many thousands more celebrated while standing or sitting along the parade route, which snaked from Memorial Boulevard down Portage Avenue and Main Street to The Forks.

The parade was slated to be the largest ever in Winnipeg, Pride Winnipeg president Barry Karlenzig told the crowds on Sunday morning.

“Walk loud, walk proud,” said Karlenzig prior to the kickoff.

The marchers and parade floats left Memorial Park at 11 a.m. and continued on until after 12:30 p.m., as the floats blasted dance music and revelers waved rainbow flags and danced to pop songs by the Village People and ABBA, while carrying signs with slogans about community pride and the protection of LBGTTQ+ rights.

A marching band of brass instruments and drums played the Spice Girls as parade-watchers cheered.

Political and Indigenous dignitaries spoke to the crowds at a rally before the parade began, along with Karlenzig and other Pride officials, who implored revelers to stay safe and hydrated, as the sun beat down and temperatures soared to 30 C by midday, before thunderstorms popped up in localized areas throughout the southern half of the province.

Water fountains were set up along the parade route and at The Forks, a first-aid trailer was set up with fans, bags of ice, water and electrolyte-infused Freezies. Average daytime highs at this time of the year are around 22 C, but the heat this past week far surpassed the averages.

Environment Canada issued a heat warning for Winnipeg and much of the rest of the province over the weekend, with humidex expected to reach 38C on Monday.

The year’s Pride festival began on Saturday at The Forks, with events planned for the rest of Sunday after the parade concluded.

Environment Canada meteorologist Shannon Moodie said Saturday’s high temperature broke a record, but Sunday’s record is the much hotter 36.5 C set in 2021, which Moodie said wasn’t expected to be broken.

“Winnipeg itself did break a record — yesterday, we hit 33.2 C and the old record was 32.8 and that was set back in 1968,” Moodie said Sunday.

On Sunday, Karlenzig said the volunteer organizers put in about 60,000 hours of work during the year to prepare for the parade and festival.

Albert McLeod, an Indigenous elder, who marched in the first parade held in 1987, offered an invocation to the attendees during the rally.

“We are dismantling the binary that was imposed upon us, and making space for every citizen, every voter, every taxpayer that is queer, and that’s why we walk on these streets, because these are our streets — these are our streets,” he told the crowd.

“We have the right to be seen, we have the right to celebrate, and get a little crazy sometimes, too.”

“We have the right to be seen, we have the right to celebrate, and get a little crazy sometimes, too.”

Among the speakers at the rally was Progressive Conservative Families Minister Rochelle Squires, who some of the crowd turned their backs on and jeered, dissatisfied with the provincial government’s responses to LBGTTQ+ issues in the last year. A handful booed Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham.

Premier Heather Stefanson walked in the parade along with some of her caucus, as did NDP Leader Wab Kinew and Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont and their respective caucuses. Stefanson was banned from speaking at the event after she did not walk in last year’s parade.

The executive director of queer community organization Rainbow Resource Centre, Noreen Mian, told the crowd the centre was proud to celebrate with the other revelers.

“Our story is the story of the fight for queer and trans rights, access to information and support, and the nurturing of safe spaces for this community,” said Mian.

“There have been many victories in the fight for equal rights, and thanks to the hard work and sacrifices of countless people, some of whom are here today celebrating, Canada has some of the most advanced queer and trans rights in the world.”

She said, however, that fight is not over.

“We know that all around us, we’re seeing anti-queer and anti-trans rhetoric on the rise — in the (United States), in Canada and right here in Manitoba,” Mian said.

“While there is much to celebrate right now, I want you to know that Rainbow remains vigilant.”

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com